History
Due to the short and easy portage across Minnesota Point, the Ojibwa name for the city of Duluth is Onigamiinsing ("at the little portage").
In the 1850s, the St. Louis River was established as the border between neighboring states Minnesota and Wisconsin and the two ports Duluth (Minnesota) and Superior (Wisconsin) became fierce economic competitors for shipping traffic off of Lake Superior. As commercial traffic on Lake Superior increased with the completion of the Sault Ste Marie canal connecting Lake Superior to Lake Michigan, Congress appropriated the funds to build a lighthouse on the narrow opening in Minnesota Point, known as Superior Entry. The lighthouse built between 1855 and 1858 was the first to use RH Barret's Fifth Order Fresnal lamp and Barret became the station's first lighthouse keeper, succeeded in 1861 by Samuel Stewart Palmer. This lighthouse was affectionately known by the name, "The Old Standby."
Since the digging of an artificial canal in 1870–1871, Minnesota Point is technically an island, connected to the rest of the city of Duluth since 1905 by the Aerial Lift Bridge.
Read more about this topic: Minnesota Point
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